Bicycle carriers, also referred to as bike carriers or bike racks, are well known among the general public as they are frequently seen mounted on traveling vehicles, and are particularly familiar to bicycle enthusiasts. Among such bike enthusiasts, it is often desired to ride in particular areas that can be remote and far from home; thus, transporting bicycles often becomes a necessity. Accordingly, trunk and hitch mounted bicycle carriers are often employed for this purpose, as they are generally easy to install and use.
Bicycle carriers include apparatus for their attachment to the carrying vehicle; among others, one type of bike carrier is mounted behind the vehicle, in abutment with a backside thereof, such as the trunk, hatch-back or tailgate. In this regard, such load carriers are typically referred to as trunk-mount bicycle carriers or racks.
Generally, such trunk-mount bicycle carriers will have portions that project rearwardly from the back of the vehicle and which are configured for receiving bicycles thereupon. The distance at which these bicycle engaging portions of the rack extend backwards can be significant. As a result, it is typically desirable to retract these backward extending, bicycle engaging portions of the rack into a travelling configuration when the rack is not in use, but while the rack is still mounted to the vehicle. Thus, arrangements for achieving such retracted, travelling configurations are needed.